North Cascaes Highway Update

[Dan_Miller]

Just received from Jeff Adamson at WSDOT:

 

Hi all,

 

This is a “it could close temporarily or for the season, or not at all” update! My crystal ball is pretty fuzzy, but here’s what the best weather minds have produced for North Cascades Highway Thanksgiving weekend weather expectations:

 

Getting there-Yes, Getting home-Maybe…

 

Wednesday: no snow, but cold and gray – travel should be okay.

 

Wednesday night: light snow – 2” or less – travel okay.

 

Thursday: heavier snow – 5”, likely – yucky, but doable.

 

Thursday night: HEAVY SNOW (very dry, however) – 15”+ is possible – How badly do you really need to try to stay awake and drive in a blizzard Thursday night after all that Turkey?

 

Depending on how that snow comes in, it could fill avalanche chutes and while there’s not much snow in any of them right now, they’re well crusted and a foot or more of fresh snow on top would likely slide. If that happens, it comes down to how much and where (which chutes).

 

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there is some more light snow in the forecast, but weather will improve all three days (the weather system will shift south to California) and any precipitation could be rain by Sunday.

 

If you’re planning on using the North Cascades to get to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving, the highway will be open. So far as using the same route to get back home – check the pass report on the web or call 5-1-1 or you can subscribe to get the pass reports emailed directly to you: http://wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/rssfeeds/cascade/default.aspx

 

The following may be worth checkng out!

 

On another matter – our avalanche control team finished creating some aerial photographs with all the North Cascades avalanche zones identified. We’re making a place on Flickr for them and when they’re posted, we’ll add a link to the NCHighway web page (and I’ll send out another one of these e mail updates.) Happy Thanksgiving,

 

Jeff Adamson adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov 509.667.2815

 

 

Edited November 25, 2010 by Dan_Miller

[kukuzka1]

thanks for the info!

[Dan_Miller]

Hi all,

 

We were able to keep the North Cascades Highway open through the Thanksgiving weekend, despite one slide that closed a lane for a couple hours until our crew could safely clear it.

 

HOWEVER, we're closing it at 4 p.m. this afternoon and will look at it after the storm to see if we can reopen. We've got a forecast for a big dump tonight and another one tomorrow - depending on whose forecast you're reading, we could get a foot, or up to two feet of new snow from each front that's coming through. At the same time, the forecast for last Thursday night to Friday said 15" and we got 6 to 8 inches (and the one slide). So, we'll wait to see what the storms actually bring before declaring it closed for the season.

 

Right now, there's 31 inches on the shoulder at Washington Pass. That amount of snow usually isn't enough to worry about, but with the arctic cold last week, there's an icy crust on what snow is in the chutes and depending on the characteristics of the new snow coming (as well as how much), we could find slides closing the highway or unstable conditions (read hazardous to work under or drive under) that would turn this into the permanent winter closure. (By the way - if you click on the Washington Weather Station link, you'll note that it says there's only 22" of snow on the ground. Check the top of the page - a snowshoer walked over the top of the sensor and compacted the snow, so NWAC left a note - add 10" to the total! - first time I've seen that...)

 

Today, while the road conditions are good, our crews are checking cars parked at trailheads and contacting drivers to tell them to go home before the storm's hit.

 

I'll send out an update when Mike and Don get back in radio range tomorrow and tell me what they've found.

 

Jeff Adamson adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov 509-667-2815

 

 

[Dan_Miller]

Just received from Jeff Adamson at WSDOT

 

 

The North Cascades Highway is now Closed for the Season.

 

Hi all,

 

We're closed for the season as of 8 o'clock this morning - here's the news release I'm sending to the media:

 

SR 20, the North Cascades Highway is closed for the season

 

WENATCHEE – 37 miles of SR 20, the North Cascades Highway closed for the winter at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1. The highway was temporarily closed at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29 in advance of a snowstorm that brought up to two feet of new snow by this morning.

 

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) avalanche and maintenance officials found a foot of new snow at the closure gates and twice that at the higher elevations. Several snow slides reached the roadway and with another snow storm forecast for later this week, attempting to reopen the highway under active avalanche zones would be unsafe.

 

The highway is closed between milepost 134, seven miles east of Diablo Dam on the west side of 4,855’ Rainy Pass and milepost 171, nine miles west of Mazama on the east side of 5,477’ Washington Pass.

 

Crews were happy that they were able to keep the highway open through Thanksgiving weekend despite new snow and an avalanche that closed one lane for several hours.

 

The highway closed Nov. 17, last year, following two temporary closures earlier in the month. Last spring, the highway opened April 16. Typically, the highway is closed by avalanches between the week before Thanksgiving and the middle of December. There was one drought year, four years after the highway opened in 1976, when it stayed open all winter.

 

Visit the North Cascades web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades

 

and the North Cascades Flickr - photo site: www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157623371473447/

 

I'll probably still send out one more of these e mail updates when the avalanche chute aerials finally get posted on the NCH web page - then you won't hear from me until late Feb. or early Mar. when the avalanche crew goes up for the reopening assessment trip.

 

So - I'd better wish you a Merry Christmas, now!

 

Jeff Adamson adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov 509.667.2815